Exploring the transpersonal phenomena of spiritual love relations: A naturalistic observation study of soulmate experiences shared in a New Age Facebook group

This paper explores varieties of spiritual experiences and transpersonal phenomena that empirically occur in spiritual love relations, which respondents define as soulmates. Soulmate mythologies exist in many traditions and are popular in contemporary spiritual communities and New Age literature. So...

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Détails bibliographiques
Auteur principal: Stokke, Christian (Auteur)
Type de support: Électronique Article
Langue:Anglais
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Publié: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group 2021
Dans: Journal for the Study of Spirituality
Année: 2021, Volume: 11, Numéro: 2, Pages: 130-144
Sujets / Chaînes de mots-clés standardisés:B Spiritualité / Affinité / Expérience / Relation interpersonnelle / Amour
RelBib Classification:AE Psychologie de la religion
AG Vie religieuse
AZ Nouveau mouvement religieux
ZG Sociologie des médias; médias numériques; Sciences de l'information et de la communication
Sujets non-standardisés:B Transpersonal Psychology
B Spiritual Awakening
B New Age
B soulmates
B spiritual experiences
B twin souls
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Description
Résumé:This paper explores varieties of spiritual experiences and transpersonal phenomena that empirically occur in spiritual love relations, which respondents define as soulmates. Soulmate mythologies exist in many traditions and are popular in contemporary spiritual communities and New Age literature. So far, few empirical studies exist of soulmates. Analyzing a convenience sample of 140 responses collected by naturalistic observation on a New Age-themed Facebook group, I explore transpersonal experiences reported by individuals in encounters and relationships with their soulmates. Theoretically, this study draws on spiritual awakening literature in transpersonal psychology, particularly Grof’s varieties of spiritual emergency. Findings show that, besides instant recognition and immediate bonding, respondents report phenomena including synchronicities, telepathy, peak experiences, kundalini awakening, dark nights of the soul, psychological transformation, and merging of opposite archetypes. While spiritual love relations overlap with romantic love, they take many physical forms, including friendships, family relations, and relations with animals.
ISSN:2044-0251
Contient:Enthalten in: Journal for the Study of Spirituality
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1080/20440243.2021.1955454